Diablo 3 an eSports?

No because PvP balance issues will bleed to everything else. In game PvP is fine, I just don't want it becoming some huge thing.

It's not about being less skilled or anything like that. It's about not wanting the main aspect of the game (PvE/M) to be toyed with so some flavor of the month doesn't keep one shotting people. Games do not need PvP, there are many great single and multiplayer games without it.

Besides Starcraft, I don't think Blizzard will ever take the time to balance a game good enough to be an eSport. Hell, Starcraft isn't even that balanced, it's only balanced between races, not units. Most of the units never ever get built.

If you think 20sec rounds are exciting. How long do you guys actually think it would take? Diablo is much too fast action to be appealing.

I personally think 'dueling' in a hack and slash is kinda dumb.

Well everyone has their opinion, but WoW pvp is fast pace action imo, and there are tournaments for it all over the world to win prizes.

You're comparing MMO pvp to hack and slash pvp. If you didn't know, it's totally different. Check out youtube, and try to find ONE exciting Diablo 2 pvp match (one without music to cover up how boring it actually is). Actually any H/S game for that matter to up your chances.

H/S pvp is great for dinking around and bragging rights, but winning cash and awards for it? Come on bro.

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"The Unchosen" Pain of Admirance Sigil (For those without -Feat of Strength-):

Diablo 3 will probably never be an eSport. Blizzard's track record has been...

Warcraft 2 -> Started a small competitive community. Not bad.

Starcraft 1 -> A great fluke that revolutionalized eSports, but not really becasue of Blizzard's involvement.

Diablo 2 -> Nope. Not even close.

Warcraft 3 -> Ultimately didn't suceed as an eSport. Game was flawed on a few levels and they don't even show Blizzcon matches of it anymore. Entire genres were born out of the map editor, but not the actual game. A WC3 map has completely and utterly smashed WC3 as an eSport. That map's name is Dota. Blizzard completely dropped the ball by not supporting it or taking it as their own.

WoW Arena -> Was a fun distraction, but it's absolutely horrid and boring to watch a live arena match. Too many flaws. No exposure. Never came close to being anything more meaningful than an epeen stroker for the average person playing WoW.

Starcraft 2 -> Long story short, it's good as an eSport, but it could have been better. There are a handful of games that were developed in less time and do slightly less than what SC2 does. There are also other games that are comparable in popularity or considered just plain better.

Diablo 3 -> This game isn't even out yet when it should have been, and as of this moment, PvP won't even be in at release. If Blizzard has any notion of attempting to even try making this into an eSport, they are failing miserably. A game needs to be developed from the ground up with PvP in mind. As of right now, every part of the game is in question, not just the PvP.

Starcraft 1 was a major success, even though Blizzard probably didn't get much compensation for it, nor did they do too much to create that "eSports" success. It was most likely half-effort and half-luck, perhaps a fluke. Outside of the Starcraft franchise though, Blizzard doesn't have a great track record for eSports. Blizzard has been great at patching their games and putting a lot of heart into them during the past 15 years, but they plain ignore the community's needs in other areas.

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Some people tell me I'm going to hell. I just let them know that I've already packed my bags!

Is it possible that Diablo 3 could become a successful e-sport without being balanced?

I appreciate that a game based on FOTM is inherently less interesting than a balanced game as well as being harder to make a living at. But I also think that D3 will be very watchable. I'd love to see a Barb and a Wizard going against a Demon Hunter and a Witch Doctor with Force commentating and good players driving the characters.

WoW Arenas were a horrible esport because people could stall for 40 minutes. D3 doesn't seem to support that - matches would be short and brutal.

So so what if barbs usually win and most people play barbs? - would still be interesting to see people try out different classes and tactics and of course it could easily change from patch to patch.

WoW had a very successful pvp film making scene back in 2005-7. It just didn't work when they introduced arenas as something to watch Live because it was too slow. But that doesn't mean WoW pvp couldn't be interesting to look at.

How many people want Diablo to be an eSports? I know I would, it would give Diablo pvp a whole new meaning. I think it would work great and get better the more blizzard works with it. You can compare it to wow pvp (I'd rather not lol) Diablo has Line of Sight, Cool-downs, Crowd Controls, Buffs, different builds for variety and does take teamwork and skill to win. Diablo 3 has already become way more complex than click-to-smash like in Diablo 2 (don't get me wrong I love Diablo 2). They could incorporate multiple pvp version like TDM, LMS, CTF or whatever the players want.

I was lucky enough to go to last years Blizzcon and exsperiance the Diablo 3 pvp multiple times. All the classes were very balanced there was no annoying healer like in wow and it was a whole lot more fun than wow. They could also incorporate an arena system and have the finals at Blizzcon every year. Sense they don't do Warcraft tournaments there is a spot open. If started early the eSports would last a long time since there is going to be 2 or 3 exspansions with the game.

I know the said they wouldn't do it but they also said that if there was enough of us who wants Diablo 3 to be an eSport they would do it. So who wants a more competitive pvp?

With the exclusion of open PvP the doors open for a balanced arena style PvP without disturbing PvE content. How? It's simple, when an ability is deemed too imbalanced you clone the ability and tag it PvP. The cloned ability replaces the normal ability when entering arena PvP. This system is used by Guild Wars and there are probably other games which uses this or a similar system. I personally wouldn't mind simple ability tweaking as it's done in WoW, but there's a lot of hate to the WoW system - The above mentioned system would solve this problem.

What eSport might add is longevity of the game. When a game turns in to an eSport it brings an audience which doesn't necessary play the actual game but enjoys watching, much like normal sports. When you get more people watching a game there's a potential revenue to be made around the game. When there is revenue there is a greater chance of getting more content over all to the game, not just PvP. Not only this but the economy in the game would thrive more, both for the AH and RMAH, since there would be an increased demand for "the best gear".

While PvE gives an initial spike of popularity it diminish quite rapidly since the game gets beaten - the story is told, side quests done and your character has now unlocked all abilities. There is more content in the form of harder difficulty setting with better loot, creating a new character or getting all achievements, but a majority of players will probably stop playing here since it can get quite repetitive.

How many people want Diablo to be an eSports? I know I would, it would give Diablo pvp a whole new meaning. I think it would work great and get better the more blizzard works with it. You can compare it to wow pvp (I'd rather not lol) Diablo has Line of Sight, Cool-downs, Crowd Controls, Buffs, different builds for variety and does take teamwork and skill to win. Diablo 3 has already become way more complex than click-to-smash like in Diablo 2 (don't get me wrong I love Diablo 2). They could incorporate multiple pvp version like TDM, LMS, CTF or whatever the players want.

I was lucky enough to go to last years Blizzcon and exsperiance the Diablo 3 pvp multiple times. All the classes were very balanced there was no annoying healer like in wow and it was a whole lot more fun than wow. They could also incorporate an arena system and have the finals at Blizzcon every year. Sense they don't do Warcraft tournaments there is a spot open. If started early the eSports would last a long time since there is going to be 2 or 3 exspansions with the game.

I know the said they wouldn't do it but they also said that if there was enough of us who wants Diablo 3 to be an eSport they would do it. So who wants a more competitive pvp?

So far there are a lot of pros and cons and I am really liking all the replies that support a more competitive pvp. A serious and competitive pvp is what I want, it is definitly the end-game for all great games. Even though pvp isn't going to be out at the start I am glad that they are spending the time to make sure it is as good as it can be.

For all the people who think that they can't balance it is mistaken. They can easily change the effects of skills and gear for pvp without affecting the rest of the game. And this might be an absurd idea but maybe a perfect balanced game is an unbalanced one or the rock, paper and scissors effect (wich is my favorite so far).

I will see you guys in the arena (when it comes out) and maybe in some tournaments.

How many people want Diablo to be an eSports? I know I would, it would give Diablo pvp a whole new meaning. I think it would work great and get better the more blizzard works with it. You can compare it to wow pvp (I'd rather not lol) Diablo has Line of Sight, Cool-downs, Crowd Controls, Buffs, different builds for variety and does take teamwork and skill to win. Diablo 3 has already become way more complex than click-to-smash like in Diablo 2 (don't get me wrong I love Diablo 2). They could incorporate multiple pvp version like TDM, LMS, CTF or whatever the players want.

I was lucky enough to go to last years Blizzcon and exsperiance the Diablo 3 pvp multiple times. All the classes were very balanced there was no annoying healer like in wow and it was a whole lot more fun than wow. They could also incorporate an arena system and have the finals at Blizzcon every year. Sense they don't do Warcraft tournaments there is a spot open. If started early the eSports would last a long time since there is going to be 2 or 3 exspansions with the game.

I know the said they wouldn't do it but they also said that if there was enough of us who wants Diablo 3 to be an eSport they would do it. So who wants a more competitive pvp?

I don't believe they've ever said that if there are enough PvP focused players they would make it eSport viable. Quite the opposite actually, they have said they will NEVER focus the game towards eSports. People need to realize that the Diablo series is a 'single player online game that can be played with friends'. The whole goal of the game's design is focused around this design.

Casual PvP will exist in the form of Arena, but abilities and such will not be heavily balanced (think how easy it'd be to kill melee chars with jumping spiders). In order to actually balance the game around PvP, they would have to either tune abilities separate for PvP and PvE (sometimes completely altering an ability), or just tune the game completely around PvP. Neither of these are good options for anywhere in the near future as they infringe on the whole point of the game, PvE.

You may think that tuning separately would allow PvP without affecting PvE but you'd be wrong. Development resources that could be used to add additional PvE content and fixes would instead be focused on tuning every possible combination of ability to make sure it is balanced when fighting players. Its not a small feat at all. In fact, with the amount of combinations of abilities you can have in Diablo 3 with elective mode, actually maintaining eSport balance might be impossible even.

Diablo 3 is just not the game for eSport PvP. Not every game needs to be made into an eSport and I'm quite tired of people thinking they do. Diablo 3 will be an amazingly fun game that will be played for years to come, without eSport balance. If you're only looking for eSport PvP...play a different game.

First of all don't tell me what I did or did not hear. I heard them say it live at last years Blizzcon in front of 26000 people, that they would support it if enough people backed it. Secondly I am not saying I don't like PvE. On the contrary I can't wait for the boss battles and the story line to unfold. But you can only learn something once. Also PvP would only support PvE because you are going to have to spend a lot of time farming for better gear to be the better player, wich seems fair to me. They already have a program called "Snow" wich allows them to change things like damage, cool-downs, stun effects and other stuff for PvP that would not affect PvE. Now they have even more to to perfect the PvP. And nobody has any evidence that PvP will harm PvE and the fact that they can't change the skills for PvP because it is "confusing to the players" is a bunch of crap. Jay Willson may not want it to be an eSports but the players do.

Sorry I did not read the posts before this one, for I am only taking a break from homework.. So my quick opinion is..
No I do not want to play D3 Esports but I would gladly participate if it did. Although I love Esports... Starting in Tribes2 TWL, Counter-Strike CAL, Starcraft and SC2, it makes the games competitively strenuous yet so rewarding. I am close friends with those nerds I teamed up with and we continue to have great times of reflection of those days, but my scapegoat from that scene was Diablo. It was pure enjoyment. Casual. Put your feet up, click and have a sandvich kinda game. Thats exactly what Blizz intended

If the PvP takes over all other factions of the game, it wouldn't be DIABLO 3. Im sure many of you already stated things about balance issues, huge variables, little skill involved, blah blah, basically it won't be an Esport.. If the community invents their own support for it, it will only be that.

First of all don't tell me what I did or did not hear. I heard them say it live at last years Blizzcon in front of 26000 people, that they would support it if enough people backed it. Secondly I am not saying I don't like PvE. On the contrary I can't wait for the boss battles and the story line to unfold. But you can only learn something once. Also PvP would only support PvE because you are going to have to spend a lot of time farming for better gear to be the better player, wich seems fair to me. They already have a program called "Snow" wich allows them to change things like damage, cool-downs, stun effects and other stuff for PvP that would not affect PvE. Now they have even more to to perfect the PvP. And nobody has any evidence that PvP will harm PvE and the fact that they can't change the skills for PvP because it is "confusing to the players" is a bunch of crap. Jay Willson may not want it to be an eSports but the players do.

They pretty much specifically state that they will not do ANYTHING that points the game towards an eSport. They know that people want an eSport out of Diablo 3, but they aren't going to do it. I need to ask if you've actually done any game development? Because its not like Blizzard has infinite time and resources to dump into PvP/PvE. No, the more they focus development on PvP the less time and resources they have for PvE. Having played Diablo 3 as all the classes, just in the first 13 levels you have enough choices that eSport level PvP would actually be quite hard to balance. Scale that up to level 60 and the full array of skills, runes, items, etc that you have access to, and eSport level balance would be nearly impossible (a nightmare to do at least).

So, no... what Jay has stated is not crap. The reasons he gave for the direction they are going make a whole lot of sense. Could they have made Diablo 3 a PvP focused game, sure....but they didn't. They chose to focus on their story and PvE and give PvP the back seat. The entire game was designed around this and at this point its not likely to change...ever. If you want eSport PvP look elsewhere.

THE GAME IS ALREADY PRIMED AND SET FOR PVP. We have seen the youtube videos of it and me and hundres of others played it first hand. Even though the skill system has change they still do all the same things you just don't have to farm for runes (which gets rid of more variables). Skills are also limited by the number of slots (6) there are, as for WoW (which is a successful eSport) you can use all of them (even if they are not feasible, which will apply to Diablo too, they won't use skills that are not useful for PvP). As for the gear I think that if you spend more time getting better gear then you should be the better player. AND YOU are not even paying any attention to what I am saying or bringing forth any new evidence that would counter me. As for Jay, I was saying that they can change affects inside the pvp but won't because it would "confuse us" is crap, not his ideas on it. It is also stated (by the release date) that the PvE is finished and will only be adjusted by patches until the next expansion comes out.

If your a game developer, then tell me what is it that they can't do? What is it that the developers haven't done yet in the years they spent making this game? Tell me exactly why it would not make a good eSports. If you can't then don't presume to dictact how the game will fold out. All I am saying is that they should at least try and if it utterly fails then fine at least they tried.

THE GAME IS ALREADY PRIMED AND SET FOR PVP. We have seen the youtube videos of it and me and hundres of others played it first hand. Even though the skill system has change they still do all the same things you just don't have to farm for runes (which gets rid of more variables). Skills are also limited by the number of slots (6) there are, as for WoW (which is a successful eSport) you can use all of them (even if they are not feasible, which will apply to Diablo too, they won't use skills that are not useful for PvP). As for the gear I think that if you spend more time getting better gear then you should be the better player. AND YOU are not even paying any attention to what I am saying or bringing forth any new evidence that would counter me. As for Jay, I was saying that they can change affects inside the pvp but won't because it would "confuse us" is crap, not his ideas on it. It is also stated (by the release date) that the PvE is finished and will only be adjusted by patches until the next expansion comes out.

If your a game developer, then tell me what is it that they can't do? What is it that the developers haven't done yet in the years they spent making this game? Tell me exactly why it would not make a good eSports. If you can't then don't presume to dictact how the game will fold out. All I am saying is that they should at least try and if it utterly fails then fine at least they tried.

Sinceraly your devoted diablo fan.

What the developers cannot do is reasonably balance the combinations of skills they way they currently exist. The shear amount of combinations would essentially require a team specifically dedicated to PvP balance and design. As for what they haven't done, I'm sure the matchmaking system isn't complete, the skills aren't designed in a PvP friendly way, the items aren't designed in a PvP friendly way, the new arena system doesn't seem to be complete as they changed the design for PvP from back at Blizzcon and likely haven't made it the focus. PvP has likely always been last on the development list for Diablo 3 and as such it just isn't even ready for casual arena PvP.

Diablo 3 'could' make a good eSport if it was designed differently. However, the game isn't designed around PvP. Many of the abilities are designed around killing groups of monsters and balanced as such. Creating separate abilities for PvP and PvE will create a void between players as many wouldn't like the alterations to their abilities.

I've also heard nothing that says we won't get PvE content during patches. What I did hear that the current shape of the game will be what we have for launch. That doesn't mean that new content (aka new quests, events, etc) won't be added during a patch.

Face the music man, Diablo 3 isn't designed for competitive PvP. Skills focused around PvE, the RMAH, casual PvP arena, and a specific statement from Jay Wilson stating they will not add any features focusing towards eSports. How can you possibly think Diablo 3 should go eSport PvP? It hasn't been designed at all that way and you want them to essentially alter everything to cater to a minor chunk of their userbase? It is just not likely to happen, at all.